GFC continues to put pressure on charities: Rudd
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CANBERRA, Feb 14 AAP
February 14 2010, 3:39PM
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says it is not surprising the number of Australians seeking charity has risen in the wake of the global financial crisis.
The Australian Council of Social Service's (ACOSS) annual survey of the welfare sector found that charities received 4.3 million requests for assistance in the last financial year.
That was a four per cent increase on the previous 12 months, Fairfax reported on Sunday.
Not only is the demand for services on the up, the number of people being turned away is also growing.
Almost 60 per cent of aid organisations were unable to help those who asked for assistance in 2008-09, the survey found.
Meanwhile, requests for accommodation are going through the roof too, as people struggle to stay in the private rental market.
Mr Rudd said tough economic times had increased unemployment and put pressure on the family budget.
"Through the impact of the global economic recession, of course you've had a lot more people out there presenting themselves to aid agencies and to charities for assistance," he told Network Ten.
Mr Rudd said the federal government was committed to halving homelessness by 2020, and 7000 of its 20,000 promised new units of social housing were on the way.
"You cannot reduce homelessness unless you have extra capacity - that is what we are doing," he said.
